Written Answers Thursday 10 January 2008

Scottish Executive

2014 Commonwealth Games

Robert Brown (Glasgow) (LD): To ask the Scottish Executive why no social enterprises were invited to the recent meeting on commercial opportunities offered by the 2014 Commonwealth Games.

Stewart Maxwell: This event was hosted by the Glasgow Chamber of Commerce. The Scottish Government had no input into invitations.

2014 Commonwealth Games

Robert Brown (Glasgow) (LD): To ask the Scottish Executive how members of the procurement business panel for the 2014 Commonwealth Games will be nominated and appointed and how social enterprise will be represented on the panel.

Stewart Maxwell: Procurement for the Glasgow 2014 Commonwealth Games will be undertaken by the Games Organising Company and will follow both European law and Scottish Public Procurement guidelines.

2014 Commonwealth Games

Robert Brown (Glasgow) (LD): To ask the Scottish Executive how social enterprises can be included on the lists of small suppliers bidding for contracts under £140,000 for the 2014 Commonwealth Games.

Robert Brown (Glasgow) (LD): To ask the Scottish Executive whether there will be any ring-fencing of contracts for the 2014 Commonwealth Games for community businesses.

Stewart Maxwell: Procurement for the Glasgow 2014 Commonwealth Games will be a matter for the Games Organising Company.

  The Scottish Government is committed to launching a consultation on how to secure benefits from the Glasgow 2014 Commonwealth Games within 100 days of the announcement that the bid was successful. This will include consultation on how best to ensure that social enterprises and businesses in Scotland can benefit from the commercial opportunities offered by the games.

Early Years

Mary Mulligan (Linlithgow) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive what its timetable is for developing its early years strategy.

Adam Ingram: As I confirmed in the course of the debate on early years in October, we aim to publish the early years strategy by summer or autumn 2008.

Education

Michael Matheson (Falkirk West) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive what action it plans to take to improve the provision of outdoor education.

Maureen Watt: Learning out of doors is being promoted as part of the Scottish Government’s curriculum review. Outdoor learning has a clear contribution to make towards the Scottish Government’s national outcome that all our young people should be successful learners, confident individuals, effective contributors and responsible citizens. HM Inspectorate of Education have also emphasised the value of well planned outdoor education experiences.

  Officials are currently developing proposals on how we might build on best practice and strengthen the opportunities for young people to participate in outdoor education. We have continued to fund a Learning and Teaching Scotland project which aims to encourage teachers to take children outside to learn.

Ferry Services

Alex Johnstone (North East Scotland) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S3W-6876 by Stewart Stevenson on 3 December 2007, on what basis it was decided that the individual vessel leasing charges are commercially sensitive, given that both CalMac Ferries Ltd and Caledonian Maritime Assets Ltd are publicly owned and that both companies are funded by the Executive.

Stewart Stevenson: In March 2006 the Information Commissioner found that Caledonian MacBrayne Ltd had correctly applied the exemption in Section 33(1) (b) of the Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act 2002, that related to commercially sensitive data in a case where their competitors had sought the release of commercially sensitive data.

  It is considered that the information related to individual vessel leasing charges is commercially sensitive. On that basis, it is considered that the information should not be released in terms of section 33(1) of the Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act 2002 where release of the information is likely to prejudice substantially the commercial interests of both CalMac Ferries Ltd and Caledonian Maritime Assets Ltd.

Flood Prevention

Peter Peacock (Highlands and Islands) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive what statutory obligations local authorities are under to protect homes from coastal, fluvial or pluvial flooding.

Michael Russell: Under the current legislation the Flood Prevention (Scotland) Act 1961, local authorities have discretionary powers to mitigate the flooding of non-agricultural land in their area.

Flood Prevention

Sarah Boyack (Edinburgh Central) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive whether it considers that there are any lessons to be learnt, in light of the conclusions of the independent review into the summer flooding in England and Wales by Sir Michael Pitt.

Michael Russell: Scotland was fortunate not to experience the widespread flooding suffered by England and Wales, but that the Scottish Government recognise that Scotland too can learn lessons from the floods. The Scottish Government has noted the interim findings and recommendations of Sir Michael Pitt’s review into the summer 2007 flooding in England. The Scottish Government will consider the recommendations, and the final review findings published next summer, in the context of flood risk and flood response in Scotland.

Fuel Poverty

Johann Lamont (Glasgow Pollok) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive how many people were in fuel poverty in each year from 2000 to 2007.

Stewart Maxwell: Figures for the number of people in fuel poverty are estimated from the results of the Scottish House Condition Survey. Figures for the individual years requested are unavailable, except for 2002. Surveys after 2002 were conducted on an annual but not calendar year basis for 2003-04, 2004-05 and 2005-06. From 2007 the survey moved to a calendar year basis. Figures for 2007 will be available in late 2008. The figures which are available are:

  

 Year
 People in Fuel Poverty
 95% Confidence Interval


 2002
 508,000
 +/- 28,000


 2003-04
 614,000
 +/- 71,000


 2004-05
 743,000
 +/- 77,000


 2005-06
 959,000
 +/- 83,000



  Because the figures are estimates, the 95% confidence interval is also shown.

Housing

Bill Kidd (Glasgow) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive how many (a) local authority and (b) housing association new-build homes have been fully wheelchair-accessible in each year since 1999, also expressed as a percentage of the total number of their new-build homes.

Stewart Maxwell: The numbers of social sector new build wheelchair housing units are shown in the following table. The housing association figures represent units approved during the year and the local authority figures are for new build starts.

  Social Sector New Build Wheelchair Housing: 1999-2000 to 2006-07

  

 
 
 1999-2000
 2000-01
 2001-02
 2002-03
 2003-04
 2004-05
 2005-06
 2006-07


 Local Authority 
 Wheelchair
 0
 70
 14
 14
 0
 0
 0
 0


 All starts
 158
 90
 43
 15
 0
 0
 6
 28


%
0.0
77.8
32.6
93.3
 
 
0
0


 Housing Association 
 Wheelchair
 106
 140
 178
 132
 209
 104
 203
 214


 All approvals
 4,682
 4,944
 5,183
 4,119
 4,388
 4,896
 6,243
 6,921


 %
2.3
2.8
3.4
3.2
4.8
2.1
3.3
3.1



  Source: NB1 returns submitted by local authorities to Scottish Government Communities Analytical Services Division (Housing Statistics), housing association data provided by Communities Scotland Investment Division.

  While some social sector developments are specifically designed for wheelchair use, there is a general requirement for social sector new build to comply with Housing for Varying Needs standards. These standards supersede Barrier Free design standards, and build upon the concept of barrier free principles, which state that housing and its environment should meet the needs of almost everyone.

Housing

James Kelly (Glasgow Rutherglen) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive what steps are being taken to build 30,000 affordable homes in the next three years.

Stewart Maxwell: The Scottish Government has made no commitment to build 30,000 affordable homes over the next three years. Our spending plans for affordable housing over the period 2008-11 are 19% higher than the spending plans of the last administration for the period 2005-08. With that additional funding, we expect to approve more new affordable houses over the period 2008-11 than will be approved over the period 2005-08. Precisely how many more will depend on how the social housing sector responds to the proposals in our discussion document, "Firm Foundations: the future of housing in Scotland", for achieving better value from available public expenditure.

Human Trafficking

Gil Paterson (West of Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive what discussions it has had with other European governments about human trafficking.

Linda Fabiani: The Solicitor General attended the Justice and Home Affairs Council of the European Union in Brussels on 8 and 9 November 2007, which discussed the Council conclusions on trafficking of Human Beings.

International Relations

Tom McCabe (Hamilton South) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive what progress has been achieved in respect of the co-operation agreement between Scotland and Shandong Province, signed in August 2006.

Linda Fabiani: Over the past 18 months we have invested in the development of a relationship between Scotland and Shandong. I hope to welcome a delegation from Weifang during China Now in Scotland this year.

  More generally, although we will of course remain good friends with Shandong, we will look as always to work with China wherever we can see opportunity.

Ministerial Code

George Foulkes (Lothians) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will consider following the example of the UK Government by appointing an independent adviser on the Scottish Ministerial Code.

Bruce Crawford: I refer the member to the answer to question S3W-6786 on 3 December 2007. All answers to written parliamentary questions are available on the Parliament’s website, the search facilities for which can be found at http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/webapp/wa.search .

Ministerial Meetings

Helen Eadie (Dunfermline East) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive how many ministers, and which ones, have attended meetings in Brussels in the last three months on business related to the European Commission’s work programme.

Linda Fabiani: In the last three months one Scottish Cabinet Secretary, one Scottish minister and the Solicitor General for Scotland have attended meetings in Brussels. All of their programmes have included business related to the European Commission’s work programme.

  Richard Lochhead MSP, Cabinet Secretary for Rural Affairs and the Environment attended European Agriculture and Fisheries Councils on 22 to 23 October (in Luxembourg), 26 to 27 November (in Brussels) and 17 to 19 December (also in Brussels). Whilst in Brussels for the November Council, Mr Lochhead held talks with Deputy Director General of the Commission’s Agriculture Directorate (Loretta Dormal Marino) to discuss the need for swift approval of Scotland’s Rural Development Programme. He met the Agriculture Commissioner, Mariann Fischer Boel on the margins of the December Council on the same issue.

  Separately, Mr Lochhead visited Brussels on 16 October and 13 December 2007 together with the UK and Northern Irish Fisheries Ministers, for talks with European Fisheries Commissioner, Joe Borg, ahead of the 2007 EU Fisheries negotiations.

  Jim Mather MSP, Minister for Enterprise, Energy and Tourism, visited Brussels on Tuesday 27 November 2007 when he met with Commissioner Danuta Hubner to discuss regional policy and officials in the Commission’s Directorate General for Transport and Energy to discuss issues relating to Scotland’s renewable energy agenda.

  Frank Mulholland QC, the Solicitor General for Scotland, attended Justice and Home Affairs Councils on 8 to 9 November and 6 to 7 December. The Solicitor General spoke on behalf of the UK on the Council Framework Decision on the recognition and supervision of suspended sentences, alternative sanctions and conditional sentences.

National Conversation

John Park (Mid Scotland and Fife) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive how many individual IP addresses have accessed the national conversation home page; how many individual IP addresses have accessed the National Conversation-themed web pages, and how many have been unique hits.

John Park (Mid Scotland and Fife) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive how many individual IP addresses have called up Choosing Scotland’s Future: A National Conversation for reading online and how many have been unique hits.

John Park (Mid Scotland and Fife) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive how many hits on (a) the National Conversation home page and (b) National Conversation-themed web pages have been from Scottish Parliament or Scottish Government IP addresses.

John Park (Mid Scotland and Fife) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive how many downloads of Choosing Scotland’s Future: A National Conversation have been from Scottish Parliament or Scottish Government IP addresses.

Nicola Sturgeon: The IP addresses of individual contributions to the National Conversation are not captured as a matter of course.

  The general privacy statement on the Scottish Government’s main website, which includes the National Conversation pages, states that any analytical data collected will not be used to identify any user personally.

  Because contributors to the National Conversation are able to provide as much or as little identifying information as they consider appropriate, the Scottish Government considers IP addresses to have been provided in confidence and is therefore not in a position to disclose the origin of comments beyond what individuals have provided publicly themselves.

  This is consistent with section 38(1) of the Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act.

Parliamentary Questions

Margaret Mitchell (Central Scotland) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive how many written parliamentary questions it has received since 1999 and, of these, how many have been answered stating that the data requested is not held centrally, also broken down by year and subject.

Bruce Crawford: All answers, including holding answers, to written parliamentary questions are available on the Parliament’s website, the search facility for which can be found at: http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/webapp/wa.search .

Police

Bashir Ahmad (Glasgow) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive what recent discussions it has had with the Scottish Police Federation.

Kenny MacAskill: I meet representatives of the Scottish Police Federation on a regular basis to discuss issues of importance to policing in Scotland. I last met with the Chairman and General Secretary on 3 December when they asked the Scottish Government to meet the outcome of the pay arbitration findings. An outcome this government was happy to honour.

Police

George Foulkes (Lothians) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive how many police officers have been redeployed to the beat since May 2007.

Kenny MacAskill: The day-to-day deployment of police officers is a matter for individual chief constables, but we are supporting them in their various initiatives to cut bureaucracy, exploit new technology and free up officer time for redeployment to operational and front line duties.

  For example, Central Scotland Police is pioneering a mixed economy model which aims to challenge existing working practices and drive forward modernisation across the force. Strathclyde Police Board has recently approved plans that will free up over 100 desk jobs currently being carried out by uniformed officers.

  I have also asked the Association of Chief Police Officers in Scotland to consider efficiencies that might be released from centralising police recruitment and, as the member is aware, I continue to press the UK Government to change legislation to release police from the requirement to support VOSA (Vehicle and Operator Services Agency) in carrying out roadside checks – something which they are not required to do in England and Wales.

  These are examples of the good work going on in all Scottish forces to support the government’s commitment to an additional 1,000 officers in our communities.

Prison Service

Bill Aitken (Glasgow) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive how many positive drug tests have been obtained in HM Prison Barlinnie in each of the last three months.

Kenny MacAskill: I have asked Mike Ewart, Chief Executive of the Scottish Prison Service to respond. His response is as follows:

  The number of tests and positive results for HM Prison Barlinnie for September to November 2007 were as follows:

  

 Month
 Number Tested
 Positive


 September
 157
 18


 October
 134
 14


 November
 97
 13

Roads

James Kelly (Glasgow Rutherglen) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive whether the existing M74 project completion date of 2011-12 remains in place.

Stewart Stevenson: The final tender for the M74 was submitted on 9 November. It is important that this is properly assessed to ensure that it delivers value for money. The intention remains to complete the project by 2011-12 subject to the outcome of the tender assessment.

Roads

Charlie Gordon (Glasgow Cathcart) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive when it will sign a contract for the main roadworks part of the M74 completion project.

Stewart Stevenson: The final tender for the contract was submitted on 9 November 2007. A decision on the award will be made once the assessment of the tender is complete.

Roads

Cathy Jamieson (Carrick, Cumnock and Doon Valley) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will commission a STAG appraisal on improving public transport links and addressing traffic problems on the A76 through Mauchline.

Stewart Stevenson: Transport Scotland has no plans to commission a STAG appraisal in the immediate future.

  The Strategic Transport Projects Review (STPR) is examining the needs of our nationally strategic transport corridors including the A76 which forms part of the transport corridor to North West England and beyond.

  The STPR aims to identify an indicative programme of interventions for the period 2012 to 2022 that will make a significant contribution towards the National Transport Strategy and help towards achieving the government’s purpose of creating a more successful country through increasing sustainable economic growth. The review will deliver its finding to Scottish ministers in the summer of 2008.

Sewerage

Des McNulty (Clydebank and Milngavie) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S3W-7539 by Michael Russell on 13 December 2007, whether it will list the 14 works receiving funding for sewerage odour nuisance in the quality and standards IIIa capital investment programme for 2006-10.

Michael Russell: The list of 35 works to receive additional capital funding totalling £42 million to meet the Quality and Standards III Ministerial objective to minimise odour in 2006-14 has been decided by the Scottish Odour Steering Group and is published on the Scottish Government’s Nuisance website. The list can be amended to include more urgent works, based on complaints and feedback received, but it does not, based on a decision by the WICS, include PFI works.

  The final list of 14 works for 2006-10 is alphabetically as follows:

  Alloa, Annan, Castle Douglas, Dingwall, Dunfermline, Eyemouth, Kirkcaldy, Paisley(Laighpark), Perth, Pitlochry, Shieldhall, Springfield, Troqueer and Wick.